Thread: Hone ID ? could it be TOS?

Just wondering what this hone might be, It seems similar to Tam o Shanter to my very poorly untrained eye.

I'm just trying to get better at ID'ing all the different naturals so hopefully someone can help me out here


I've seen some Tam o shanters that look a bit like this but a lot of them are much darker and more grey.

There are whitish tams. I have one vintage Tam that is very light in color. The speckles that gave it the name 'snakeskin' hone are the characteristic that I would look for. A close up of the stone should show that.

There is definately a White TOS, whether yours is one, its hard to tell from the picture. I remember reading about the white TOS that they were actually a much finer stone then the original. Here a couple pic to examine.

A close up of the surface.

If i remember correctly the top pic is Frameback stone, the finest white i ever seen.

In part 3 of "Grinding and Honing" are a lot of pictures about TOS. See: http://straightrazorpalace.com/hones...rt-3-site.html

I will give you another option which went through my head when I saw your hone before I read it- Rozsutec.

Yes, I was also thinking Rozsutec. It doesn't look like a white TOS. I have one, and it's the best finishing stone I ever seen. Strangely, I would say that looks a lot like the Zulu stone, but much more white, and it's a lot finer.

Thanks for the input guys I think I've gained a better understanding of TOS from your pictures

Like the other posters have said already, there are white and light Tams. Not only that, there are greenish, blueish, dark grey and a host of gradations in between:







Some have peculiarities like the one with the line of white tam running through it, some with radiating bands of darker/lighter colour.

The last one is a Water of Ayr (dark) and Tam (light) glued combination hone.

Regards,
Neil

Yupps thats my little baby

Originally Posted by Martin103

There is definately a White TOS, whether yours is one, its hard to tell from the picture. I remember reading about the white TOS that they were actually a much finer stone then the original. Here a couple pic to examine.

A close up of the surface.

If i remember correctly the top pic is Frameback stone, the finest white i ever seen.

I'm looking at a Water of Ayr Tam Combo at the moment, so the Tam is generally not a Finishing stone but more of a pre-polish? unless it's the White TOS Snakeskin?